


Rooms for Ghosts

by for_t2



Category: Original Work
Genre: Blood Pacts, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Customer Service & Tech Support, Demons, Empty Rooms, F/F, Horror, Hotels, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Loneliness, Revenge, Serial Killers, customer service is hell, what goes around comes around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28675182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: Mai came to enjoy finding rooms for ghosts in her hotel, but blood pacts with demons have consequences
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character
Kudos: 2





	Rooms for Ghosts

"A blood pact with a demon isn't something to be taken lightly."

"I don't care." And Mai didn't. If there was a demon in her hotel room, it was because she had summoned it there, and it was because she was not going to give up her room. Not going to let her dickhead of a manager fire her and kick her out, not just one week before Christmas. "Let's do this."

"I say it as much for my protections as for yours." The demon studied her intensely. "Blood magic almost always has a loser."

Mai really didn't care. "Do it!"

*****

Blood pact or not, Mai wasn't sure she could actually do it. It was one thing to want to keep her job, to keep her room, and it was another thing to actually do it.

Especially when she assumed it meant hurting (or torturing or something equally evil) her manager. The demon hadn't gone heavy on the details, just said to the dickhead to an empty room at midnight exactly. The demon had said she would know what to do when she got there.

"I don't see any leaks." And she was there. Here. With her manager. At midnight and not a second sooner. But the room was still empty. "I swear, if you're wasting my time again..."

When her manager shuffled towards the door, Mai noticed the broken mirror, the city lights outside reflecting, shining off the sharp, shattered pieces of broken glass.

When it hit her, she almost threw up.

Almost.

*****

Mai didn't realise which room she was in until she saw the eyes reflected in the window.

Having guests complain about their room was hardly an unexpected phenomenon, and even having guests complain that their room was haunted wasn't too far out of the ordinary - you get all sorts passing through a hotel (and the occasional co-worker who likes pranks).

But it had been one week since she had... Since her manager had mysteriously disappeared, and she kept jumping at the sound of ever police siren. Especially since she was sure she hadn't disposed of the body very well (it was hardly part of her night shift training).

But here she was, a week later, in the same room. And she recognised those eyes in the window. Recognised the rhythm of the whispering.

Maybe she didn't need to worry about the body anymore.

*****

"Yes, now that you mention it, there is one more thing."

Mai gritted her teeth as the worst customer she had had all day found a way to keep shouting at her. And she still had three hours to go on her shift.

"I have a lot of experience with hotels, young lady," the guest jabbed a finger towards her chest. "And let me tell you that I have never seen towels as--"

Mai almost didn't realise she was making the decision. Almost.

The sound of the guest's toenail clippers slicing across his throat was immensely satisfying.

Immensely.

*****

"I'm sorry, we don't have any rooms left."

It was true, to an extent. The hotel was genuinely busy, and Mai was having to work double shifts. Hence why it was so important that she did this selectively. She needed the right guest for the right room at the right time. And she had all the time in the world.

She studied the queue. Studied the potential guests. Made her decision. "Welcome to Valnad Hotel, how can I help?"

"I've been waiting in line for ten minutes!" This time, Mai customer service smile was more of a grin. "It's ruining my family's vacation! What are you going to do about that?"

It's a good thing the hotel wasn't entirely full.

*****

"I don't know how you're doing it."

Mai stirred around the ice cubes in her drink, listening to the Detective praise her. Or, at least, she counted it as praise (it's not like she got any anywhere else).

"No bodies, no traces of blood, no DNA, nothing on the cameras." And plus, she was getting kinda used to having the Detective around. She had a very nice voice. And muscles. "But I know it's you."

Hell, the Detective was just genuinely hot. Mai wasn't going to blame herself for enjoying the attention. Even the ghosts ended up becoming boring after a few months. "Why?"

"The other suspects line up too well." Having a blood pact with a demon had its advantages. "It has to be you. Call it a professional instinct."

"Instinct, eh?" Mai took a sip of her drink and watched the Detective take another chug of hers. The bar was always the most romantic room of the hotel. "You sure about that?"

The Detective stared at her. Blinked. "You've poisoned my drink, haven't you?"

*****

"Ooh, this is so creepy!"

Mai rolled her eyes behind the back of the overly cheerful, overly enthusiastic guest who was poking around the room with a video camera in her hands.

It had been almost a couple of years since the blood pact was struck, and it appeared that a couple of years was more than long enough for the hotel to gain a reputation as haunted. A reputation that meant a whole new range of tourists. Which, to be fair, was good for business.

"I can feel it!" The guest, some amateur blogger off some paranormal corner of the Internet, tried to peer through a crack in the wall (a crack that didn't go deeper than the paint). "There's definitely a presence here."

"I told you that you'd like it."

"Hell yeah!" The guest summoned up a notebook out of one of her many pockets and scribbled down a few notes. Set her camera on the table. "And which spirit did you say inhabited this room, again?"

Mai had always had an ironic sense of humour.

*****

Mai had come to hate the quiet guests. The polite ones. The nice ones. They were... boring didn't quite describe how unsatisfying they were.

But in the holiday off-season, she had to make do with what she got. It was almost more unsatisfying not to have guests at all. Almost.

"Where do you want me to put your bag?" She was so bored she had even volunteered to carry a guest's bags up to the next empty room.

"Anywhere's fine." This guest barely spoke, and when she did it was so quiet it was barely speaking.

"I'll bring your complementary homebrewed coffee up shortly." But at least the boredom forced Mai to get creative. "What type of cake would you like?"

For a minute, Mai didn't think the guest was going to answer. "Is it true that people disappear in here."

Mai wasn't expecting that to be the answer. "Supernatural Magazine did name us the number one haunted building in the country this year."

"Hm." The guest smiled. "Do you think I'll disappear."

"Depends if you..." Mai trailed off as she recognised the smile. As she recognised how small, how sad it was. "Oh."

*****

Dani. It was a nice name. And, somehow, it was a name Mai was going to be using again. Somehow, they had agreed on drinks.

It didn't really seem like a night had passed when the sun rose, yet somehow she felt rested, she felt peaceful that she hadn't in maybe forever. She wasn't supposed to take naps during her shifts, but...

But Dani.

Fuck, she was really looking forward to drinks.

And fuck, she was really having a minor existential crisis. For the first time, a guest had wanted her to kill them. For the first time, she didn't. For the first time, she told someone she was bored. She had even finally cried with someone.

And it made her realise that there were only so many rooms in the hotel. And if she was having drinks, well, maybe it was time to move on. To find a new hotel. A new career. Maybe even go back to university.

Mai didn't have the time to ask herself where before the sound of a keycard clattering against the reception counter interrupted her thoughts.

A keycard marked with the same room number as the one Dani had just left. A keycard thrown by...

Those eyes.

"I believe you owe me a room."

*****

Even as the blood seeped out of her and her vision started to blur, Mai still managed to feel anxious. Restless. Scared.

None of the guests had ever seemed that way. A couple had had moments of shock, but never fear. Maybe it was just because she was usually fast enough.

Usually.

Oh well. She really only had herself to blame. She had spent too much time thinking about the blood pact and not enough about the guest. She had been distracted. She had let him have a chance to wrestle for her knife. She had gotten sloppy.

She never got sloppy. She was a good employee. She...

She was supposed to go for drinks.

Drinks. The thought made her laugh (although she couldn't do it out loud anymore) one last time as the darkness took over. She was supposed to go for drinks.

She hoped, at least, that the ghosts would be kind to her.


End file.
